AL East Notes: Smith, Hanigan, Yankees, Orioles

Exactly one year ago, the Rays and Cubs finalized an eight-player deal that sent Matt Garza to Chicago. 365 days later, Garza is on the block again, though so far teams have balked at the Cubs' asking price. Could Garza be back in the AL East before Opening Day? While we wait to find out, here are a few links from the division:

Although we heard in recent weeks that Tampa Bay was interested in Rockies' outfielder Seth Smith, the Rays may not have held onto Smith had they acquired him. According to Buster Olney of ESPN.com (Insider link), one deal discussed earlier in the winter involved the Rays trading for Smith and flipping him to the Reds in exchange for catcher Ryan Hanigan.

Newsday's Ken Davidoff explains why the Yankees haven't made a move for one of the top starting pitchers (including Garza) available via free agency or trade.

Comments

I don’t think the Reds would want to trade Hanigan after flipping Grandal, and I don’t think the Rockies need Hanigan after singing Ramon Hernandez… Both teams seem to have moved on from the circumstances that led them to those talks.

I would hope so. If the asking price for Davis was that low (no offense intended to Hanigan who I would of liked a lot) then we would of gotten Rizzo or Yonder or Quentin or…hey why the Padres stealing all the guys I want? Jays used to do that.

No. The Reds will not trade Hanigan for various reasons (in my opinion) now. That was when Yasmani Grandal was still with the Reds. Hanigan signed a team friendly contract last year. Also, Hanigan is the only catcher with a good amount of ML experience and will mentor Mesaroco. Though, it would be ironic if Hanigan and Hernandez joined forces again in Colorado. But, it will not happen. Trading Hanigan would leave us without a backup catcher to a rookie catcher that hasn’t proven anything yet.

It’s just my opinion, isn’t that what comment boards are for? They were just referring that Hanigan might be traded erlier in the winter, and obviously things have changed since December since we don’t have Grandal anymore. I’m sure they were just doing it for details to inform us with what was happening, and I have no problem with that. Since they reported that that was erlier in the winter, I was just trying to give a perspective as to why we would consider trading him erlier and likely wouldn’t now.

Yeah it did come off a little harsher than I intended, so I edited it. My bad, I didn’t intend disrespect any of the writers. Rather, I was trying to inform while Hanigan wouldn’t still be available as far as we know (which some people thought the Reds were still shopping him). And I mentioned the COL thing because somebody erlier in the thread said Haningan for Smith, straight up. I was inadvertidly replying to him, not the MLBTR post.

There was interest from the Angels for Hanigan before the got Ianetta from Colorado. As others have pointed out, they can’t afford to lose his veteran experience. They don’t have another big league ready catcher in the pipeline of the Minors. I would still love to figure out how to get Smith, without giving up what we did to get Latos and Marshall though .

I think the top brass of the Yanks realize that Cashman knows what he doing, he feels the rotation is good, and he likes their young pitching in the minors. After Ian Kennedy was traded the Yanks will only give up their young pitchers for a #2 pitcher. The Yanks will try and sign Kuroda or Oswalt as stop gap pitchers for next year. 2013 Yanks rotation, CC, Cain, Nova, Hughes, Banuleos. I think Joba could start after Tommy John surgery.

Part of me wishes the Yanks would let Joba spend a few months as a starter in AA & AAA after he rehabs. If they need him out the pen then so be it, but view him as a potential starter long term.

8.36 K/9, 4.27 FIP, 4.17 xFIP, etc doesn’t scream future ace but at the end of 2009 he was only 24 and in his 2nd season. I think that aside from possible injury concerns it was wrong to give up on him. Now that TJ is out the way, let’s see if he can be shaped back into a possible mid rotation guy.

Smith would be a nice add but as others have said, there is no replacement for Hanigan. I think letting Ryan go weakens us more then adding Seth would help. As much as I like Mesoraco’s upside there are still going to be growing pains with him.